How to watch Investigation Discovery

A case that stayed unsolved for 25 years will be one of the subjects of the pilot episode of a show on Investigation Discovery titled “Beauty Queen Murders.”

The death of Jackie Johns, a 20-year-old Nixa waitress and Sucker Day pageant winner, had been one of the longest unsolved murders in Ozarks history.

She was found dead in Lake Springfield in June 1985.

According to a press release from Investigation Discovery, the show set to debut at 9 p.m. Tuesday “unveils the chilling story of one beauty queen’s rise and untimely demise, interwoven with commentary from her loved ones and the law enforcement that helped catch her killer.”

Police suspected Gerald Carnahan of raping and killing Johns but did not obtain evidence necessary to convict him until August 2007. Carnahan is now serving life in prison at the Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point. According to court records, Carnahan’s post-conviction appeal case has a telephone hearing with a St. Louis County judge scheduled for Thursday.

“‘Beauty Queen Murders’ reveals the not-so-pretty side of the typical pageant queen fantasy,” said Henry Schleiff, group president of Investigation Discovery, Destination America and Military Channel. “For these American sweethearts, winning a sash and crown may have empowered them to reach for the stars, but it couldn’t defend them against the fatal lure of a dangerous admirer.”

Interview subjects for the Jackie Johns episode include sister Jeanne Johns, friends Dayna Spencer and Lisa Shaw, former Christian County Sheriff Dwight McNeil, former Greene County Prosecutor Darrell Moore and journalist George Pawlaczyk, author of a book about the Johns case titled “Murder on a Lonely Road.”